


Right Where You Left Me

by agnes_writes



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Inspired by Art, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28673199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agnes_writes/pseuds/agnes_writes
Summary: “The Wraith has come back to him. If only for a little while.In the depths of his cold heart, Kaz wonders if this is what joy feels like.”
Relationships: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Comments: 13
Kudos: 82





	Right Where You Left Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [isola13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isola13/gifts).



> This is based on the fan-art made by the amazing @lavvui on Instagram!
> 
> I almost melted when I saw that pic of Kaz and Inej so I just HAD to write a fic about it.
> 
> Here's the [link](https://www.instagram.com/p/CJzpBh0pNyQ/?igshid=edwp9qhhvxou) if you want to bless your eyes, it's absolutely gorgeous.

Her footsteps are heavier now.

Kaz feels the smile curving on his lips and forces it down. He keeps his head low, buried in the papers strewn across his ochre desk.

The Wraith has come back to him. If only for a little while.

In the depths of his cold heart, Kaz wonders if this is what joy feels like.

“Should I come back another time?” a voice asks, soft but strong. Kaz looks up to see her silhouette draped on the window sill, her hair loose.

The moon makes her skin glow.

Kaz was never fond of “pretty” words when all that he had ever heard were the ones that cut like knives.

But not for Inej.

Inej is enchanting.

“You're here,” he replies in the same, soft tone.

She smiles and Kaz feels the tingle of anticipation down his spine as she steps closer.

He clears his throat. “You've lost your ability to hide, Wraith.”

Inej laughs, the twinkle in her eyes something the stars could never hope to shine as bright as.

“I wasn't trying to,” Inej says, and the look on her face says it all.

She isn't invisible. She doesn't need to be. Not anymore.

“Sit.”

“I leave for three years and you're still throwing orders around?” she quips, but follows, sitting on the chair.

“What have you been doing all this time, Wraith?”

Inej sits up at the old alias, almost alert. Her lips twitch, a contained laugh. She starts to talk, and the world falls away.

He watches her, entranced, listens to her voice like his life depended on it. She told stories of those she rescued, her dark eyes alive with fire. She grows more solemn as she talks about those who met the end of her blade, the blood that stains her hands. When she hesitates, Kaz nods ever so slightly, urging her to continue—pretending he isn't desperate to know everything that her letters didn't contain, that he hadn't stashed them in the box under his desk and traces the ink stains.

She pauses, and asks him how Ketterdam is.

“Still the same godless place as it always was.” is what Kaz says.

_Not the same without you_ is what he doesn't.

Talking was easy. Talking was safe, and so that's what he did—in the way he knew how. Kaz talked of looting and the Dregs, of the kruge he had earned and the men he had killed.

Inej never looks away once.

But when their words run dry, the tension hits. They sit in the thick of it.

Kaz had faced many daunting things.

He still had to gather the courage to ask her, however.

“Are you staying?”

Inej hesitates and Kaz knows the answer.

He will never admit it to her, or even himself, but he wishes it were different.

“Not for long.”

“I see.”

He pauses, then straightens. “Then you better get as much rest as you can.”

Inej's eyes soften. She nods and stands, and Kaz pries his gaze away from her, an impossible task though it seems.

“I leave at dawn. We only docked for hours’ worth of rest.”

“And you waste it talking to me?”

He hears her breath hitch.

“No part of this was a waste, Kaz.”

His heart, the lecherous thing he thought to be long dead, skips at the sound of his name on her lips.

“There's something else I have to do.”

He finally looks at her again, and her face is determined. Her stare falls to the gloves on his hands, same as they ever were, and she retrieves a cloth from her pocket.

She steps forward, unraveling it.

Every inch closer, the wilder Kaz's heart beats. His face feels warm, and he could only watch as Inej draws nearer and nearer.

He wanted to reach out to her.

He curses himself for failing.

She stops in front of him and he tries to etch every freckle on her face into his memory. Inej takes a deep breath. Kaz almost recoils as she brings the cloth to his mouth, but she's careful not to brush her fingers to his skin.

“You can tell me to stop.”

Then she meets her lips to his.

Kaz's eyes widen but the only thought he has is—she smells of the sea. His eyes fall shut.

Her lips are warm and gentle, even through the cloth. They're uncertain of what to do, but Kaz could only remember one thing as his heart rings in his ears.

Her name.

_Inej, Inej, Inej—_

She slowly pulls away, unsure—Kaz laces his gloved hand through her hair and deepens the kiss. Her hands rest on his chest, soft but strong, assured.

Just like her.

His only saint had been greed. But now he whispers a different prayer to it—and he believes his selfishness will always know no bounds.

_Let her never leave me again. Let this moment last forever._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! Please tell me what you think, all kinds of feedback are welcome. Thank you so much for reading! 
> 
> Follow @lavvui on Instagram, her art is spectacular!


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